A game in Dallas Monday, a game in St. Louis on Wednesday. Two places where he had big success as a coach and the fans will always remember the good times.

“Am I doing an outdoor tour next?” kidded the Edmonton Oilers coach.

Certainly Hitchcock had great memories in St. Louis in his six years as coach.

“A wonderful relationship with the town, the players, the fans,” he said. “A helluva six-year run where you’re in the playoffs every year. And when you’re making the conference finals, that’s special. We were in a division (Central) that was very strong with Nashville and Chicago and a conference where LA was on a (winning) roll.

“You wish we had one more goal. We seemed to lose to the eventual Stanley Cup champion and it was always in game six or game seven of a series or overtime. That’s how close it was.”

We found out what a superstar-less Edmonton Oilers team is like, and it wasn’t pretty when Connor McDavid sat out his team’s game on the road against the Dallas Stars when he fell ill.

While it was just one game, short of expecting McDavid to be the ultimate iron-man, illness and injuries do happen, and the Oilers certainly looked like they were running on a lower-octane fuel minus him. What it did was magnify the team’s current lack of depth on the wings.

Podcast host Craig Ellingson talks to hockey eat writer Derek Van Diest about McDavid’s absence and about the NHL’s approval of a Seattle team for the 2021-22 season — a new rival for the Oilers playing in the Pacific Division.

When my assistant said there was a call from the White House, I picked up, said 'Hello' and started to ask if this was a prank

This Week's Flyers

Comments

Postmedia is pleased to bring you a new commenting experience. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. Visit our community guidelines for more information.